Boku

A second executive from Boku, a mobile payments company in San Francisco, has signed on with American Express. Erich Ringewald, who was Boku’s co-founder and CTO, will join the company as VP of Software Product Management for Amex’s U.S. Consumer Services business. In May, American Express hired David Yoo, an SVP at Boku, to be SVP of its Commerce Innovation team.

American Express said today that David Yoo, formerly of mobile payments company Boku, will join the company as SVP of its Commerce Innovation team. At Boku, Yoo was SVP of Strategy, Product and Marketing. American Express also hired Katrina Lane, who will be EVP in charge of the company’s Consumer Cards and Experiences team. Most recently, Lane served as CTO of Caesars Entertainment.

Global wireless carrier Telefonica is aiming to make it easier for developers that want to enable in-app payments on their network, tapping BOKU to aid in the effort.
The move is the carrier’s latest effort to enable network-specific features such as Internet telephony, text messaging and carrier billing, all tapping directly into Telefonica’s network. (This NewsByte has been updated, correcting an earlier mischaracterization of the service.)

San Francisco-based Boku, which enables consumers to charge digital items to their wireless bill, is launching with French carriers Bouygues Telecom and SFR, in addition to already working with Orange France. Now most mobile-phone owners in France will be able to charge things, such as virtual goods in an online game, up to 10 Euros. Boku operates in 65 countries and across 230 carriers. Its main competitor, Zong, was acquired by eBay last month.

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